Side-tilting conveyer



2 SHEETS -SHEET l J. M. PRENTICE SIDE-TILTING CONVEYER Feb. 17, 1953 Filed June 10, 1948 Feb. 17, 1953 J. M. PRENTICE SIDE-TILTING CONVEYER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed June 10, 1948 JOHN MPQENTIICE GILM L A Patented Feb. 17, 1951? SIDE-TILTING CONVEYER.

John M. Prentice, Louisville, Ky., assignor to Logan 00., Inc., Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Application June 10, 1948, Serial No. 32,153

4 Claims.

This invention relates to side-discharging conveyors.

In the use of gravity roller conveyors, it is necessary in some installations to provide means for laterally discharging articles from the conveyor, either intermediate the length of the conveyor or at the end thereof. A number of mechanisms have been developed for effecting the lateral discharge of articles from such conveyors. For example, it has been proposed to provide a separate conveyor section having means associated therewith for moving the lower end of the section upwardly until the section assumes a horizontal position, whereupon separate means comes into operation for tilting the section laterally to discharge an article therefrom. It also has been proposed, among other mechanisms, to provide means movable upwardly through the conveyor rollers to lift an article from the rollers to discharge the article laterally. All of such mechanisms are relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a novel side-discharging conveyor device wherein a section of the conveyor is subject to a single operation for leveling the section horizontally and for tilting it laterally to discharge an article.

A further object is to provide a gravity conveyor section supported on a single tilting axis so arranged that upon the transmission of a tilting movement to the section it is made to assume a horizontal position longitudinally and a properly tilted lateral position for the discharge of articles from the conveyor.

A further object is to provide a side-discharging conveyor section supported on a single shaft having its axis tilted in such manner from the horizontal and inclined in such manner from the longitudinal axis of the conveyor section that the transmission of a downward force on the discharging side of the section will cause the section to be tilted longitudinally to a horizontal position and laterally to a tilted discharging position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the drawings I have shown one embodiment of the invention. In this showing,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the conveyor section, shown in the present instance as being the terminal section of a conveyor,

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same,

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view on line 33 of Figure l, and

Figure 4 is a similar view on line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Referring to Figures 2, 3 and 4, the numeral designates a support for the conveyor section to be described in detail later. This support comprises a plurality of vertical posts ll, arranged in pairs at opposite sides of the apparatus as' shown in Figures 3 and 4. These posts rest upon 1 the floor and are secured to a surrounding angle iron or similar structure 12.

At their upper ends each pair of posts is con' nected by a cross member 15 to the top of which" is secured a bearing l6, and these bearingssupport a relatively heavy shaft 11. As shown in Figure 1, the center line l8 of the shaft is in-- clined relative to the longitudinal center '19 of the conveyor described below, and as shown in Figure 2, the shaft I1 is inclined slightly downwardly from the horizontal in the direction of movement or article indicated by the arrow. v

port 22 is provided with a collar portion 24 byv means of which the support is secured to the shaft I1, and the shaft rocks in the bearings 16.

Each support 22 carries angle iron or similar structural elements 28 on each arm 23 thereof, and each pair of the members 28 carriesaplurality of conveyor rollers 29 journaled at their ends therein. Each roller 29 is parallel to the arm 23 by which it is supported, and the two F sets of rollers 29 are accordingly inclined downwardly toward each other as shown in Figures 3 and 4. Accordingly these rollers are particularly adapted for the carrying of articles which are circular or substantially circular in crosssection, such for example as steel coils 30. The 1 present apparatus is particularly intended for conveying and discharging steel coils, but it will become obvious that it not in any sense limited to such use.

It will be noted in Figure 1 that the shaft H is arranged mainly to one side of the axis IQ of the conveyor, and such side of the conveyor constitutes the lateral discharge side thereof. To assist in the discharging of the articles, each outer rail or support 28 at the discharge side of the conveyor is provided with a shelf 34 welded or otherwise secured thereto and suitably braced at intervals by plates 35.

It will be understood, of course, that the conveyor section illustrated forms a continuation of a main gravity conveyor, and in the present instance, the conveyor section is the terminal of the conveyor. The conveyor section slopes downwardly in the direction of movement of articles indicated by the arrow in Figure 2, and the angle All of these supor inclination of the conveyor section to the horizontal is, in practice, preferably twice the angle or inclination of the shaft I1 to the horizontal. As articles move onto the conveyor section, it is necessary to arrest each successive article prior to the tilting of the conveyor section to discharge the article. Where the conveyor section is the terminal section, some such means as shown in Figures 1 and 2 may be employed to arrest movement of the articles. For this purpose, a bearing plate 38 may be secured to adjacent rails 28 at the center of the apparatus as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and this plate may be threaded to receive a threaded rod 39 having a hand wheel 40 at its outer end and a stop plate 4| at its inner end. Rotation of the hand wheel obviously adjusts the position of the stop-plate 4| to arrest articles on the conveyor section at any desired point therealong.

A transversesupport 45 (Figures 2 and 4) is welded or otherwise secured at its ends to the side membersof the frame l2. The support 45 is employedto support the power means used for tilting the conveyor section. In the present instance, a hydraulic cylinder 46 is shown as being pivotally supported-as at 41 to an upstanding bearing 43 fixed to the'support 45'. A piston 53 in the cylinder 46 carries a rod projecting through a bearing 52 at the upper end of the cylinder and pivotally connected as at 53, to ears 54 carried by the two rocking supports 22 which are arranged adjacent each other. A pipe 56 is tapped into the bottom of the cylinder 46 and is controlled by a suitable valve (not shown) for supplying hydraulic, fluid under pressure to the bottom of the cylinder and for'releasing, such fluid therefrom.

Operation Articles move over the main conveyor (not shown) in the direction of the arrow in Figure 1 and thus pass onto the conveyor section of the present invention. When the article reaches the stop plate 4| its movement along the conveyor section is'arrested. To discharge the article from the conveyor, the operator will operate the valve (not shown) associated with the pipe 56 to supply hydraulic fluid under pressure to the cylinder 46 beneath the piston 50. The piston will move upwardly and will transmit similar force to the adjacent side of the conveyor section, thus tilting the. latter? laterally in a clockwise direction as viewed .in Figures 3 and 4.

The operation thus referred to accomplishes two results, namely, the relative lowering of the higher or left hand end of the conveyor section as viewed in Figure 2, and the lateral tilting of the conveyor to the dotted line position shown in Figure 3. The angularity of thecenter line l8 of the shaft I! simultaneously effects both the iongitudinal and transverse tilting of the conveyor, and when the conveyor rollers reach the dotted line positions shown in Figure 3, the conveyor section will be horizontal longitudinally and the lower or right hand set of rollers 29 will be inclined downwardly-toward the discharge side of the conveyor as indicated in dotted lines in Figure. 3. Thus the article, such as the coil of steel 30, will be directly discharged laterally from the conveyor without any tendency to move longitudinallyrelative to the conveyor.

In this connection it will be noted that if the axis l8 of the shaft I! were parallel to the conveyor section, the moving of the conveyor section to azlongitudinally. horizontal position would be' ed only-.ithrough'the excessive lateral tilting of the conveyor. It also will be noted that since the discharge side of the conveyor, that is the upper side in Figure 1, is closer to the shaft I1 at the right'hand end of the conveyor section than at the left hand end, the tilting of the conveyor section through a given angle will cause greater vertical movement of the conveyor section adjacent the inlet end thereof than adjacent the opposite end. It also will be noted from Figure 2that the vertical distance from the shaft I! to the conveyor section at the inlet or left hand end thereof is greater than the corresponding distance at the opposite end of the conveyor. Thus for any given angle or tilting of the shaft l1, there will be greater arcuate movement of the conveyor adjacent the inlet end than adjacent the opposite end. These factors contribute to the final result of moving the conveyor to a longitudinal horizontal position when the conveyor reaches the laterally tilted discharge position shown in dotted lines in Figure 3.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the' present apparatus provides highly simplified means for discharging articles laterally from a gravity conveyor. There is only one tilting movement about a single axis and no means need be associated with the apparatus to effect such tilting means except a single power source such as the hydraulic motor shown in Figure 4. It is wholly unnecessary to support the conveyor section on a transverse horizontal axis at one end and move the other end of the conveyor to render it longitudinally horizontal and to then tilt the The simplicity of the present construction sub-- stantially reduces the cost of manufacture of an apparatus of this character and greatly simplifies the controlling of the functions of the apparatus. It merely necessary for the operator to control a single valve when an article on the conveyor contacts the bumper plate 4| to supply hydraulic fluid under pressure to the bottom of the cylinder 46. Immediately upon the discharging of the article from the conveyor, the valve operation will be reversed to release or withdraw fluid from the bottom the cylinder 46, whereupon the Darts return to normal position through the same simple rocking movement of the conveyor section about the single axis [8.

Iclaim:

1. A side-discharging conveyor comprising a conveyor section normally sloping downwardly in the direction of movement of articles thereon, and means for tiltably supporting the conveyor section on an axis horizontally inclined from the longitudinal axis of the conveyor section.

2. A side-discharging conveyortcomprising a conveyor section normally sloping downwardly in I the directionof movement. of articles'thereon,

and means for. supportingsaid conveyor section v for tilting movement onanaxis which'inclines from the horizontal in the same directionbut to a lesser extent than the inclination-of said conveyor section, said axis being horizontally in-' clined relative to the longitudinal axis of said conveyor section.

3. A side-discharging conveyor section comprising aplurality-of parallel-sets of conveyor rollca inclined downwardly toward each other and arranged on opposite sides of the center of the conveyor section to support articles for movement thereover, the conveyor section being inclined downwardly from the horizontal in the direction of movement of articles thereover whereby the articles move along the conveyor section by gravity, longitudinal rails supporting the conveyor rollers of each set, transverse rocking supports to which said rails are secured, a shaft supporting said rocking supports, and bearings supporting said shaft, the conveyor section having a discharge side toward which the axis of said shaft, in said direction of movement, is inclined away from the longitudinal center of said conveyor section.

4. A side-discharging conveyor section comprising a plurality of parallel sets of conveyor rollers inclined downwardly toward each other and arranged on opposite sides of the center of the conveyor section to support articles for move! ment thereover, the conveyor section being inclined downwardly from the horizontal in the direction of movement of articles thereover whereby the articles move along the conveyor section by gravity, longitudinal rails supporting the conveyor rollers of each set, transverse rocking supports to which said rails are secured,a

shaft supporting said rocking supports, and bearings supporting said shaft, the conveyor section having a discharge side toward which the axis of said shaft, in said direction of movement, is inclined away from the longitudinal center of said conveyor section, said shaft being inclined from the horizontal in the same direction as and to a lesser degree than the conveyor section.

JOHN M. PREN'I'ICE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Working Industries (pages B1'7-1-34 and B18- 1-34). 

